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The YA Chronicles Subscription Box Review – February 2016

The YA Chronicles is a book subscription box that offers you a newly released Young Adult novel along with 2 – 5 bookish accessories that match the monthly theme.

The YA ChroniclesCost: $29.99 for 1 month, $84.99 for 3 months or $159.99 for 6 months.Ships To: Australia/NZ for an additional $9.99 or internationally for $24.99.Payment Method: Paypal or credit card.Mailed Out: by the 18th of each month.

This month, it would’ve been sent out by Thursday February 18th and I received it the following Wednesday February 24th.

Each box comes with an information card (which handily identifies where the bookish items were sourced from) as well as a YA Chronicles bookmark with the current month’s theme – the box I purchased was ‘Rebel With A Cause’.

“Mortals rule the desert nation of Miraji, but mystical beasts still roam the wild and barren wastes, and rumor has it that somewhere, djinni still practice their magic. But there’s nothing mystical or magical about Dustwalk, the dead-end town that Amani can’t wait to escape from.

Destined to wind up “wed or dead,” Amani’s counting on her sharpshooting skills to get her out of Dustwalk. When she meets Jin, a mysterious and devastatingly handsome foreigner, in a shooting contest, she figures he’s the perfect escape route. But in all her years spent dreaming of leaving home, she never imagined she’d gallop away on a mythical horse, fleeing the murderous Sultan’s army, with a fugitive who’s wanted for treason. And she’d never have predicted she’d fall in love with him…or that he’d help her unlock the powerful truth of who she really is.”

Verdict: No subscription box is going to please 100% of its audience, and unfortunately, this one doesn’t wow me based on my personal preferences. I’ll be honest, I’m rather disappointed with the bookish items, although through no fault of The YA Chronicles.

My expectations were high as I’d looked over the contents of previous boxes from the past few months and I would’ve been rapt to receive any of those – most came with a pretty pendant of some variety, a couple included journals, and other cute/functional items such as candle melts and usbs.

So when I opened my box and found stickers featuring characters I didn’t even know and a tea sachet when I dislike drinking tea…it felt a bit like the universe had perversely ensured the items were the antithesis of what I wanted! I can at least use the lip balm, although it did leave a few streaks when I first applied it, which wasn’t ideal. I’ll see if it improves upon further use. And I’m regifting the other items to a fellow bookworm who’s happy to benefit from my experiment with this box. 😉

The value of these products comes to approximately $31.35, which does at least cover the cost of the box (minus shipping). It’s just a shame that I didn’t feel like I got my money’s worth. However, this is an entirely subjective response and despite this particular month’s box not being the stuff my dreams are made of, I am nonetheless glad that this book subscription service exists and operates in Australia, allowing us to experience the anticipation and thrill of the mystery box without paying a fortune to subscribe to its overseas counterparts.

To end on a more positive note, I was lucky enough to win the March box with the theme ‘Made In Australia’, thanks to the lovely Jess over at The Never Ending Bookshelf. That cheered me up considerably as I now get another roll of the dice to check out next month’s YA Chronicles box as a freebie! 😀

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I see why you feel the way you do about this box. I love Hunger Games so I love the poster in the box but other than that it does not seem like a very good value. I like the stickers but I am tired of all the lip balm and tea in a lot of these boxes. Thanks for the review. I am going to wait this one out and see if the box get better for my tastes.

Yes, the poster was the most valuable of the items and would look good in a frame – I might have to evict a photo of some friends in favor of the poster…

I adore the idea of book subscription boxes, but the satisfaction level varies so much from one person to another, and one month to the next. I read a lot of the Owlcrate, Illumicrate, Quarterly YA, etc. box reviews and I die of jealousy at some while shrugging at others. Gotta just average out your level of interest and place your best on the most consistent!